More Tory cowardice as Public Health England say report should be released, but government continues to withhold it
For a second time, the Tories have delayed the release of a report into the reasons that COVID-19 kills a far higher proportion of people of colour – and they have admitted that a desire to avoid public anger is the reason.
A Number 10 source confessed that the government is:
incredibly worried that this could be in too close proximity to the #BlackLivesMatter protests.
The Tories’ failure to provide adequate PPE – vital personal protective equipment – to front-line workers, mostly low-paid and including a high proportion of BAME people, has been intrinsically racist, even more so as it became clearer that the risk to black and Asian people of being killed by the coronavirus is much greater.
That racism would be clearly perceived against a background of international anger at the murder of George Floyd by police officers in the US. So the Tories are simply refusing – again – to release it:
Earlier on Monday, the Tories also hid the deaths of 445 mostly elderly people killed by the virus in residential care – deaths for which the government’s deliberate policy, of sending infected people back to homes not equipped to treat or isolate them, is responsible – so Matt Hancock could boast of falling death rates.
Such evasion of accountability and arrogant disregard for the consequences of their actions are unforgivable.
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This is what the President of Association for Directors of Public Health has had to say about the UK response to Covid -19
https://www.adph.org.uk/2020/05/adph-presidential-blog-a-time-for-steady-leadership-careful-preparation-and-measured-steps/
Here’s some extracts but you should follow the link and read the full blog,
COVID-19 has already taken a huge social and economic toll on our nation – and the reality is that it will continue to do so for some time.
We are at a critical moment. We need to weigh up the balance of risks between easing restrictions, to enable more pupils to return to school, more businesses to open and more social connections to happen, with the risk of causing a resurgence of infections.
Directors of Public Health are increasingly concerned that the Government is misjudging this balancing act and lifting too many restrictions, too quickly……
…….This is a new disease; evidence is still emerging and there is much uncertainty. However, based on what is currently known, several leading scientists and public health experts have spoken out about a string of recent national policy announcements affecting England which project a degree of confidence that many – including ADPH members – do not think is supported by the science…….
…..Over the weekend we have seen signs that the public is no longer keeping as strictly to social distancing as it was – along with this, we are concerned that the resolve on personal hygiene measures, and the need to immediately self-isolate, if symptomatic, is waning. A relentless effort to regain and rebuild public confidence and trust following recent events is essential……
…..The ADPH is calling for full implementation of all Phase 2 measures to be delayed until further consideration of the ongoing trends in infection rates and the R level gives more confidence about what the impact of these will be. There also must be a renewed drive to promote the importance of handwashing, social distancing and self-isolating if symptomatic, positive for COVID, or a contact of someone who is. And, additional assurance is required that the NHS Test and Trace System will be able to cope with the scale of the task.
The risk of a spike in cases and deaths – and of the social and economic impact if we have to return to stricter lockdown measures – cannot be overstated; this needs to be understood not only by the public but also by the Government.
In preparation for the 2nd Wave, will large numbers of elderly & vulnerable OAPs be transferred, ‘un-tested’, once again, out of NHS to protect ‘Nightingale’ hospitals?
This Government routinely suppresses ANY Report it doesn’t want the people to see. Russian sponsors of neoliberal centrist politicians (Conservative MPs), SUPPRESSED; CPS. Report into Leave Campaign funding (and ‘dirty’ money) by unknown sponsors, SUPPRESSED.
I suspect that if every reader replied to this message with the name and year of any official Report that i), was promised, and. Ii), has never been released we’d be horrified at the scale and nature of suppression.
From the Black Report in 1980 (was eventually released/‘leaked’, not by the Thatcher regime itself, but by the Socialist Health Association and Penguin Books, to Sajid Javid’s recent Home Office report into Asian sex gangs, Conservative Governments seem to distrust the publics ability to deal with matters of public interest, and, of course, use suppression to protect their own naked self-interest.
Not providing adequate PPE for NHS ‘front-line’ workers shows utter contempt for NHS workers; but failure to provide any PPE for low paid care workers, most of whom work in private sector, demonstrates how the Tories view the ‘Care Industry’ as an endless supply of low-skilled, low waged, untrained foreign workers who, to quote Enoch Powell .Will do the jobs British people won’t do’.
How many British Politicians or Journalists would wipe the butts of the elderly for a living, no matter what the pay? There may be elements of racism, but this demonstrates contempt for ‘low paid, key workers’ aka ‘the working class’. Blair was wrong, the class war is not over. Will Starmer’s New Labour remind the gov’t & the electorate, or must we rely on Piers Morgan?
On twitter habve just come across this tweet https://twitter.com/DHSCgovuk/status/1267756210213748743?s=20 from the Dept of Health and Social care who claim not true report was delayed snd that a report will be published this week
The global protests over George Floyd’s FIRST DEGREE murder are reminiscent of the anti Vietnam war protests of the late 60’s or the Poll Tax protests or the Me Too movement.
If the frustration of CV lockdown increases public anger at the world’s governments and brings demands for change, maybe its legacy won’t be an unmitigated disaster.
If governments sleep less soundly tonight that’s a good thing.
The greater the oppression, the more activists the oppressors create – nobody knows what tips populations into revolution and just because there hasn’t been one in a while doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
Just because we’ve been oppressed one straw at a time and not noticed doesn’t mean we won’t notice the last one.
It is absolutely essential that the higher incidence of Covid deaths among BAME communities is investigated so that more needless deaths are prevented.
What we do know already is that BAME people are the most disadvantaged in society- many are badly housed or homeless, in low paid jobs which don’t allow for the purchase of fresh fruit and vegetables under stress constantly about paying the bills. Do these issues make BAME people less likely to survive Covid 19? I would like to see research done into the link between race and survival rates and poverty and survival rates. Not much chance of that though – the Tories have no care whatsoever for poor and/or disadvantaged people